Goals from Brady Barclay and Kobe Walker, and a 41 save performance from Jeremy Kelleway paced the Lloydminster Bobcats to a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Mustangs at the Civic Centre on Monday night.
Coming off a frustrating outing on Wednesday where the team failed to strike on ten power play attempts in a 3-1 loss, the Bobcats power play went 1/4 tonight as Kobe Walker knocked in a rebound off of a point shot from Evan Wood in the second period to set the home team out to a 2-0 lead. The goal was Walker's fifth of the season and ultimately stood up as the game winner.
. @LloydBobcats goal! 2-0 Cats 7mins left in the 2nd. ?? @kobewalker21_ off the rebound. @FountainTire pic.twitter.com/OHsYOzrMhp
— Bobcats Replay (@bobcatsreplay) November 12, 2016
Calgary would strike back in the third with a power play goal of their own on a 6-on-4 man advantage with goaltender Bailey Brkin on the bench as Kylor Wall drilled a one-timer past Kelleway to make it 2-1, but that's all they could muster in the loss.
It looked as if the Bobcats had jumped out to a 3-0 lead earlier in the period as Chasetan Braid jammed a puck at the goal on a feed from Zach Webb, but it was waved off as Braid had pushed Brkin's leg into the net. Although the goal was kept off the board, the line of Braid, Webb, and Will Middleton was able to generate a lot of opportunity on the night.
As has been the case in many contests of late, the Cats were paced by the trio of Brady Barclay, Kobe Walker, and Zach Kaiser. The line got on the board near the midway point of the first period as Walker forced an errant pass from a Mustangs defender that was intercepted by Kaiser, who in turn dished to Barclay. Barclay made a slick move past the lone defender before beating Brkin with a crafty forehand backhand move to notch his fifth goal of the season.
. @LloydBobcats goal! ?? @BBarclay98 assist by Zach Kaiser 1-0 in the first. pic.twitter.com/aGzBSjy8Mj
— Bobcats Replay (@bobcatsreplay) November 12, 2016
On the goal, Kaiser extended his now league-leading to ten games, while Walker now has points in four straight.
Kelleway got the start against the Mustangs tonight and kept a blank sheet through most of the game, turning aside the first 40 shots he faced until Wall's power play marker broke through. With tonight's performance, Kelleway earned his first career AJHL victory.
The Cats will look to make it two in a row as they host the Drumheller Dragons tomorrow night at the Civic Centre, with puck drop at 7:30.